


Dog Dad Seeks Same

by TheForestUnderQuarantine



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Allura (Voltron) Lives, Keith is a good dog parent, M/M, Mutual Pining, Online Dating, Touch-Starved Keith (Voltron), post-season 8
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-21
Updated: 2019-08-21
Packaged: 2020-09-23 08:11:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,943
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20336917
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheForestUnderQuarantine/pseuds/TheForestUnderQuarantine
Summary: Long after the war, Keith and Lance are just two guys doing there best to live relaxed lives. However, grey fur on Kosmo as well as behavioural issues from the space wolf leads to a quarter life crisis from both. Has Keith been the best dog parent he could be, or has he given Kosmo a lonely life? Or is he just projecting? Turning to online intergalactic dating is Lance's idea. Perhaps it's a joke. Perhaps it's a way for Lance to get over his own feelings and see his former team leader truly happy. It starts with cocoa & a personal ad for anyone with a canine companion similar to Kosmo. But then the dates grow more serious and Keith realizes he has been lonely himself. Has Lance missed his chance to tell Keith how he really feels?





	Dog Dad Seeks Same

“Do you think Kosmo gets lonely?” Lance traced a finger over the rim of his cocoa mug. They were sitting on Lance’s porch, just watching the sunset. Kosmo was gnawing at a particularly hard rissole by their feet that Lance had kind-of overcooked, too busy arguing with Keith. The little happy growls and wet smack of lips on meat sounded gross, but Keith was watching his cosmic wolf with a soft, proud look. 

Keith’s eyebrows furrowed hard at the question. He seemed to be chewing it over with the same intensity that Kosmo was decimating his burger. “Of course, he does. Didn’t you hear me over the comms on the way home to Allura? He needs company. Otherwise he gets a bit—

“Chewy?”

“Destructive.” Keith leaned down, hand gently carding its way through Kosmo’s thick fur. Kosmo stopped chewing to turn his upper body to face him, muzzle nuzzling into his palm with his eyes closed in utter bliss. Keith’s face was almost mirroring his wolf as he rubbed behind his ear. “Why are you asking?”

Lance took in the gentle sight and blundered. Scratched his cheek. “No-no reason.”

Keith dropped his hand, much to Kosmo’s displeasure who tried to lift it with his nose back into the doing the good scratchies. He turned to Lance with a look of utter horror. “Has he said anything to you?”

“No! What—Keith? No! No talking space wolf here. Just, curiosity.”

Keith narrowed his eyes. The scar on his cheek caught the porch-light and looked like pure scalding flame. “And what’s prompted this curiosity?”

“And what’s prompted this intensity? Buddy, Keith, in all our years at space I’ve just never seen another wolf like Kosmo. I was just wondering if there were any other tamed teleporting cosmic wonder wolves around that would be up for a doggy meet-and-greet. Has your mu—has Krolia said anything to you? About his species?”

“Just that he’s a cosmic wolf. And that he seems to like me.” Keith leaned back into the bench seat, looking up at the moths as they were attracted into their own demise with a pained ‘zap’ of the light. He winced. “And that he makes for a delightful pillow, now that he’s bigger.”

Lance snorted the rest of his chocolate milk through his nose at the image of the large, intimidatingly serious Galra woman cushioned into the warm folds of Kosmo’s fur in-between missions. 

Keith blinked at him, cocking his head in question. Lance wished he hadn’t gone back to drink more as Kosmo mirrored the adorable expression and thus more hot milk wound up on the floorboards.

Keith tsk-ed a chuckle, which grew as he took in the utterly mortified look on Lance’s face and his drenched shirt. “I know why I’m laughing, but why are you laughing?”  
“Just,” Lance gestured vaguely at the air. “Your mum doesn’t strike me as the cuddly type.”

Keith bristled and Lance sighed, motioning with his hands to calm down. “It’s just nice to get an extra side for her. We don’t—I haven’t heard much from her. She’s always struck me as intimidating, so it’s nice to know she has a softer side.”

Keith sat up and scowled. Kosmo rolled over for belly rubs which were generously given. “Where do you think I get it from.”

Lance shrugged. “Your own lifelong sweetness?”

Keith stared him down until Lance cracked. “Has she taught him any tricks? She seems like she knows how to teach discipline.”

Keith shook his head. “She is a good leader and teacher,” there was a sadness to his gaze, as if imagining the lost years they had. “But Kosmo only really listens to me. Even then, it’s more of a partnership than anything.” Keith—he pouted. He full on pouted and Lance felt his heart pinch out a little ‘aww.’ “He doesn’t even play fetch with me.”

“Really?” Lance blinked. “Well, maybe he just needs a bit of ol’ Lancey-Lance’s training expertise.”

“You, an expert dog trainer?” Keith snorted. “Next you’ll be saying you can herd kittens.”

Lance scowled. “It’s a very important intrinsic skill, Keith. Don’t mock my kitten herding. It’s what Blue responded to, clearly.”

Keith shook his head, his bangs falling into tussled disarray. “Clearly.”

“Hey, I trained Kaltenecker to moo on command. Ask Pidge. She can even moo out an old Altean melody. Got her to sing it when Allura was over last time from New Altea. She loved it. Don’t knock my skills.”

A sobered Keith was a worryingly quiet Keith. “How are you guys—

“We’re still good friends,” Lance replied curtly. “And she’s still the best lady.”

Keith rubbed the back of his neck under his mullet—it’s not a mullet, Lance, Keith’s voice said in his head—and sighed. “So like, do you have a stick available, or?”

Lance blinked at him. Slowly. “There are so many trees around. Worst comes to worst, we can snap off a smaller branch, and Kos-mo-mo can have a wonderful time chasing sticks. Isn’t that right, boy?” He turned to the wolf, who looked up at him with its big black and gold eyes, blinked, wagged his tail weakly, and then slumped his head back into his curled up body. 

“I think he’s a little tired. That last mission took a lot out of him.”

“What happened?”

“A township on the planet we were on got stuck in a flood, deprived of resources. Kosmo,” Keith rubbed that delicate indent in-between his eyes with the tips of his fingers and Kosmo let out a yodelling happy aroo. “Was called onto the scene to bring them to the other side. On top of that, we had to do a lot of food distribution. Wasn’t too strenuous, but I think he must be feeling the effects of the teleportation now.”

Kosmo gazed up at Keith with utter respect and loving and seemed to nod. The understanding between the pair would have been uncanny, but Lance had seen much stranger things than a near-sentient teleporting wolf. 

Lance whispered in pure awe. “He really is the best boy,” and dived into his back fur.

Keith smiled fondly, the scene filling him with nothing but love.

Buried in the long ruff fur of cobalt blue, Lance felt surrounded by warmth and dog smell. It reminded him of his own childhood, playing on the beach with his yippy Jack Russell who would always slyly trip him up so he could lick his face. He buried his face deeper, giving Kosmo’s back little fake kisses. “I love him so much.”

“Me too,” Keith said, walls down. He put his finished cocoa down, having regularly sipped it during Lance’s antics. 

“He’s such a good boy, the best boy, the biggest boy. More Clydesdale horse than dog at this point, right buddy?”

The utterly blissed out Kosmo huffed a bark, his backfoot twitching as Lance found an itchy spot on his shoulder to rub. Keith looked between them, appreciating the symmetry of the dark slate-blue of Lance’s eyes against Kosmo’s darker fur. 

“He is the best boy.”

Lance smiled up at Keith, looking up as he was at knee level, lying on his ex-rival’s dog’s back. “How old is he now? Six?”

“Eight,” Keith corrected. “Had him since he was a puppy. Believe it or not, he used to be smaller than Pidge.”

Lance gasped. “I don’t believe it! He was never gremlin-sized! And I can’t believe what a regal and esteemed old gentleman he is. Can’t believe it’s been that long since we lost the Lions.”

“Since we beat Honerva, you mean?”

“Eh, I focus on the important parts. Miss my girl Blue. And our boy, Red.”

Keith sighed. “Me too. He’s—he’s still out there, you know? Allura says he’s woven into the fabric of reality.”

“Quilted Lion corpse sky? Morbid.”

“No but like—” Keith closed off again, pulling at his long hair. “Can’t you feel them? I wake up to flashes of red and black sometimes. Images of time long passed that aren’t my own memories, but the Lion’s. Yellow eyes, that aren’t just the Galra who tried to cut us down. Shiro and Hunk said they both feel it. Do you?”

Lance’s tongue felt dry and heavy in his mouth. “Sometimes. Or a warm, comforting purr from Blue. Telling me everything’s going to be okay. That I’m a good flight instructor. A good seasonal farmer. That I should stop being so hard on myself.”

“I used to think you were so arrogant. That you could be knocked down a peg or two. But she’s honestly right.”

“Says the guy who works himself to exhaustion every day.”

Keith shrugged. “I’m just saying.”

“Yeah,” Lance breathed and looked out across the night sky. It was a thick navy blue, freckled with stars. A shooting star slashed open the sky like a scar, fading as it went. In the distance, he swore he could see flickering blues and reds, the red star bursting bright as a sun. Their lion. “Do you think Red’s watching over us?”

Keith snorted. “I’m not religious.”

Lance gasped. “Neither. But magic space cats kind of defy the usual parameters.”

Keith had that faraway, dreamy look again. It reminded him of their last day on Earth all those years ago, sitting on top of black, watching the sunset and not knowing if they would ever see it again. The uncertainty was both frightening and beautiful, and had left them both feeling vulnerable. “I like to think so.”

Lance flopped his head back into Kosmo’s fur. The wolf’s heartbeat was constant as clockwork. The furry body radiated heat like the Castle of Lions many processing units. Lance’s hand drifted through fur, feeling the muscles shifting beneath. He counted hairs for a distraction. “Getting some grey hairs there, Kosmo.”

Keith sat up in alarm. “What?”

“Here, see?” Lance pointed at one, then another. The more he looked, the more they seemed to multiply. Kosmo snorted in disgust at Lance’s accusations of age. 

Keith found his hands shaking by his side. “Maybe I should ask Krolia just how old space wolves live for.”

Lance looked up at him in alarm. Taking in his friend’s distress, he spoke softly and calmly. “Keith, buddy, he’s in the prime of his life. Teleports like a champion, runs like an Olympic athlete. Heck, it wouldn’t surprise me if he was immortal. Space canine and all. He’s in no pain at all. Heck, my bones creak more than his do and I’m a sprite twenty-four. It’s all good.” He gave Keith puppy dog eyes that Kosmo looked up and imitated.

Keith worried a hand through his hair again. “Maybe I should look for a playmate for him, though? Another wolf that speaks his language and can teleport, too. Maybe I’ve been selfish not looking before.”

“Keith, it’s not every day that a teleporting wolf appears in the universe. I think you were lucky just to meet Kosmo. It’s not selfish to be a good friend to him when you don’t know where any others roam.”

“Maybe I should set out a personal ad. See if anyone across the galaxy has a laid-back one like Kosmo.”

“Single dog dad seeks same?” Lance said with a leer. “Get yourself a man out of it too.”

The tips of Keith’s ears went red, a tell that Lance had gotten under his skin. “Not like that! I’ve got no time for romance.”

“Only time for Kosmo and work?” Lance chuckled, ignoring Keith’s ‘I’m here with you now, aren’t I.’ “Relax buddy. What could possibly go wrong?”

Keith looked at him in disbelief. 

As it turned out, everything.


End file.
